by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT MARKET

Each magazine has its own guidelines. The mistake that many writers make is not following the guidelines of a magazine. As writers, if we want our work to be sold, we have to understand that the market will not change for us, and in order to establish which markets are suitable for our writing, a little bit of homework is essential.

If you write to the Fiction Editor of a magazine and ask them for a list of their guidelines, they will gladly supply it. After all, they do not want to wade their way through stories that are not suitable for their magazine and it helps both the writer and the magazine to have guidelines. Always remember that magazines are profit making and that it will be appreciated if you enclose a stamped address envelope for their reply.

HAVING ESTABLISHED THE MARKET

The next step for a writer is researching the magazine itself. In order words, reading. As on Helium, there are a certain kinds of writing that are acceptable, and just as Helium writers read other people's work to learn how to write reviews, a fiction writer needs to read current editions of magazines in order to know what kind of stories each magazine publishes. When you find a magazine that publishes the kind of story that you feel you can write, keep that magazine in mind to sell your stories.

Here it is interesting to note that my particular market, i.e. the magazines in the IPC group which can be seen on line by tapping IPC into Google, although aimed at women accept both male and female writers alike.

PRESENTATION

When you first approach a magazine with a short story, there are certain rules that may not be obvious to all, and it took me a while to learn these rules. For example, always provide your work double spaced with large margins. This may seem petty, but in fact what you are doing is making it easy for the magazine to scribble notes for the printers that eventually print your work, and making it possible for a Fiction Editor to edit your written work.

In the guidelines of magazines, there is usually a story length mentioned. This is very important. A magazine that says it will accept stories of 1500 words will not accept a story of 2000 words just because you thought it was good. The number of words is important and in word, you will find a word counter. Stick rigidly to the number of words stated and at the end of your written work, state how many words the piece has. This is a great help to magazines.

Never print on a dot matrix printer,

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